Govt confirms bird flu after long cover-up<\/p>\n
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
After keeping the bird flu from the public since September,
\nallegedly due to pressure from several well-connected poultry
\nbusinessmen, the government finally confirmed on Sunday the avian
\ninfluenza, or bird flu, outbreak in the country.<\/p>\n
Director General for the Development of Animal Husbandry
\nSofjan Sudardjat at the Ministry of Agriculture said the disease
\nwas first spotted on Aug. 29 in Pekalongan, Central Java, before
\nspreading to other areas.<\/p>\n
"Between September and November, the outbreak was already
\nwidespread ... but there is no evidence so far that the disease
\nhas spread to humans," said Sofjan at a press conference, which
\nwas also attended by poultry businessmen.<\/p>\n
He believed there was a possibility that the disease was
\nintentionally introduced to Indonesia by certain foreign parties,
\nbut he refused to name the suspected country.<\/p>\n
The government previously insisted that the country was free
\nof the disease, and blamed the deaths of thousands of chickens
\nacross East Java and Bali in the past three months on Newcastle
\ndisease, a virus that is harmless to humans.<\/p>\n
Confirmation of the disease came after press coverage on
\nsuspected bird flu cases.<\/p>\n
Around 4.7 million hens have died since August -- 60 percent
\ndied of Newcastle disease and 40 percent of a combination of
\nNewcastle disease and avian influenza -- and at least 400 farms
\nhave been afflicted by the outbreak.<\/p>\n
Sofjan explained that, since there were no human casualties
\nand the disease was still considered harmless, the ministry
\npreferred to call it avian influenza rather than bird flu.<\/p>\n
"Avian influenza is different from bird flu. That is what
\nexperts told me ... We will call the disease 'bird flu' if humans
\nare affected," he said.<\/p>\n
Marthen Malole, a veterinary researcher at the Bogor Institute
\nof Agriculture, told The Jakarta Post that the government had
\nrefused to make the disease public, as there was pressure from
\ncertain multinational companies that feared their operations and
\nexports would be disrupted.<\/p>\n
"The government was prevented from publicly announcing the
\ndisease immediately because of a businessmen's lobby," said
\nMarthen, who has been conducting bird flu research since
\nSeptember.<\/p>\n
However, Sofjan denied the allegation, saying that a recent
\nmeeting with businessmen at the official residence of Minister of
\nAgriculture Bungaran Saragih was not a lobbying attempt, but a
\nroutine discussion on the latest developments of the disease,
\nexchanging information and data to ensure accuracy.<\/p>\n
Sofjan said the directorate had identified H5N1 in December,
\nbut could not yet confirm that the H5N1 strain was harmful until
\nit received comprehensive laboratory results on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The H5N1 strain is harmful to both humans and birds.<\/p>\n
He also said the government had not announced the outbreak
\nearlier, as results from local researchers was still debatable
\ndue to the lack of available research facilities.<\/p>\n
Separately, Marthen said independent and government
\nresearchers had confirmed the existence of avian influenza type
\nH5N1 in November and had urged the government to inform the
\npublic as soon as possible to prevent the disease from spreading.<\/p>\n
According to the directorate, the provinces hit hardest by the
\ndisease are: Central Java, with 17 afflicted regencies; East Java
\n(13 regencies); West Java (3); Yogyakarta (6); Lampung (3); Bali
\n(5); Banten (1); South Kalimantan (1); East Kalimantan (1); and
\nCentral Kalimantan (1).<\/p>\n
In the region, the outbreak has killed six people in Vietnam
\nwhile in Thailand, two human cases have been confirmed.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Muvni Suatmodjo of the West Java Animal Husbandry
\noffice said that during the past several months some one million
\nchickens in the province had died, possibly because of the bird
\nflu disease as shown by the physical signs in the dead chickens:
\nred stripes in the legs, and comb turned blue.<\/p>",
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